Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde is an American national park located in Montezuma County, Colorado. The area was inhabited by the Anasazi Native Americans for thousands of years, beginning in 7500 BC, and it included 600 cliff dwellings. Sometime after 650 AD, the first pueblos were built at the mesa, and the cliff dwellings were built by the end of the 12th century. By 1285, following a series of prolonged droughts, the Anasazi were forced to abandon the area, leaving behind their old homes. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established a national park at Mesa Verde, occupying 52,485 acres of land.